Further technical developments have permitted a considerable increase in the production rates of modern blow molding machines. As in practice the tendency goes toward producing a very large number of different containers in one and the same blow molding machine, which differ, for example, by differently formed orifices and which require the retooling of the blow molding machine, the possible high production rates are opposed by inexpediently long exchange periods and complicated exchange procedures. Developments are being made to shorten the exchange periods for fittings such as preform mandrels significantly and to simplify and/or automate the exchange periods therefor. However, in blow molding machines used in practice, other fittings, e.g. shielding plates, which have to be exchanged during a retooling as well, are still exchanged by hand and in complicated exchange procedures. In the blow molding machine used in practice, each shielding plate is secured by a U-shaped spring bracket, which must be manually withdrawn from the holder and, after the new shielding plate was inserted, must be reinserted manually. The removal of the spring bracket requires a high expenditure of energy and great skills, while the reinsertion of the spring bracket requires a high targeted precision and a relatively strong thrust force. Therefore, the exchange period for each shielding plate is long. The exchange procedure is cumbersome, considering that often more than 100 shielding plates have to be exchanged over the production line.